Spirituality
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Good Dough
Like a good doughdestined to become fragrant, hot bread,dripping with melted butter and sweet honey,I, too, occasionally need to be punched down,deflated,returned to an earlier state,and left in a warm, quiet placeto rise again. Like a good dough,I, too, relish a… Continue reading
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Prayer for Lent
Lead us, O God,from the beautiful,to the good,to the true. Lead us, O God,from what catches the eye and the breath,to what quickens the heart and the conscience,to what cradles the soul and the spirit. Lead us, O God,ever deeperinto… Continue reading
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Old Shoes
Every dayyou put on your shoes.You put them on yesterday,and you put them on today,and you will put them on tomorrow. And then one morning,you realize they need to be replaced;they are old and worn and no longer serve you,these… Continue reading
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On Hope
Anchor hope in remembering. If God's faithfulness held then,why not today?why not right now? Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading
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God Undefined
Give me a Godwho's a little bit odd, who strays a bit south of convention,a God made of partsof old broken hearts, a God of unnerving invention. I want the Divineto stray from the line and shrug off our tight expectation,a… Continue reading
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Sophia, Once Again
"Sweetie," she said,"these things aren't happening to you,they're happening for you.There's a big difference." My blank lookmust have communicated my confusion. She patted me on the knee."You just sit with thatwhile I get us some tea." Text and image © 2014… Continue reading
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Fault Lines
We all have fault lines– hidden veins of weakness, those places where, when stressed, we are most likely to crack. Patch them with holy spackle: bread and wine, exchanged embraces, stillness. Text and… Continue reading
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Christmas Cozy
I told himthat each year at ChristmasI like to read Christmas stories and Christmas poems. He said,"No one does Christmas cozy like Dirk!" And I thought of the story by Dickens I'd just read,about poverty and injustice in 19th-century London.I… Continue reading
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To Essence
Say yes to the River;relax in its flow;agree to the journeywherever it goes. Let go of the tiller;let slip both the oars.Stop looking landward;break free of both shores. Calm stretches await you–and rapids and falls,and eastward the Ocean's heartbeckons and… Continue reading
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The Journey
The unnamed destinationyou long formay, in fact,be the step you're taking now. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading